Meredith Wealth Planning Boosts Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Meredith Wealth Planning lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 34.6% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,864 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 479 shares during the period. Meta Platforms comprises 0.5% of Meredith Wealth Planning’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 25th largest position. Meredith Wealth Planning’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $940,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Private Management Group Inc. lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 4.7% in the fourth quarter. Private Management Group Inc. now owns 1,038 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $367,000 after purchasing an additional 47 shares during the last quarter. Bfsg LLC raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 58.0% in the 4th quarter. Bfsg LLC now owns 3,265 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,156,000 after purchasing an additional 1,198 shares in the last quarter. Hartline Investment Corp lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 15.4% in the 4th quarter. Hartline Investment Corp now owns 3,580 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,267,000 after purchasing an additional 477 shares during the period. Wynn Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at about $2,876,000. Finally, Carret Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.0% during the fourth quarter. Carret Asset Management LLC now owns 22,734 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $8,047,000 after buying an additional 867 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 150 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $500.49, for a total value of $75,073.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 124,387 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $62,254,449.63. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,057 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $526.76, for a total value of $2,663,825.32. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now directly owns 11,990 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,315,852.40. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 150 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $500.49, for a total value of $75,073.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 124,387 shares in the company, valued at approximately $62,254,449.63. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 418,680 shares of company stock valued at $211,992,147 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have commented on the stock. TD Cowen raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $570.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Susquehanna increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $520.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Tigress Financial raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $575.00 to $645.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, thirty-three have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $574.41.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $528.00 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 2.68 and a current ratio of 2.83. The firm has a market cap of $1.34 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.33, a P/E/G ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.21. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $502.48 and a 200 day moving average price of $490.42. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $276.03 and a fifty-two week high of $544.23.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The social networking company reported $5.16 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.70 by $0.46. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 34.34% and a return on equity of 34.16%. The business had revenue of $39.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $38.26 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.23 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 22.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th were paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.38%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 14th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 11.49%.

Meta Platforms Company Profile

Meta Platforms, Inc engages in the development of products that enable people to connect and share with friends and family through mobile devices, personal computers, virtual reality headsets, and wearables worldwide. It operates in two segments, Family of Apps and Reality Labs. The Family of Apps segment offers Facebook, which enables people to share, discuss, discover, and connect with interests; Instagram, a community for sharing photos, videos, and private messages, as well as feed, stories, reels, video, live, and shops; Messenger, a messaging application for people to connect with friends, family, communities, and businesses across platforms and devices through text, audio, and video calls; and WhatsApp, a messaging application that is used by people and businesses to communicate and transact privately.